Looming Losses
Perhaps the most significant plants we tuck into the landscape are trees, which give structure and bring a sense of permanence. As gardeners, however, we know that nothing is really permanent.
Solid Ground
Almost everything that a gardener likes about a wonderful soil is pretty much what an engineer hates. Where a gardener wants great organic content, engineers find the organics to be a problem, because they don’t compact well.
Laying a New Foundation
Yoshiaki Nakamura and four fellow craftsmen arrived from Japan this past Sunday to demonstrate how to organize and assemble the Japanese Garden’s renovated, Seifu-an, a most extraordinary small building.
Digging up History
We are in the midst of discovery, and it turns out that the greatest mysteries are often right under our feet. As gardeners, we are accustomed to that. But this past week it was not roots and shoots at the core of our mysteries; it was pipes and walls and footings.
Full Circle
After months undergoing restoration in Kyoto, Seifu-an has arrived. Our teahouse sort of looks like the most complex kit you might ever purchase at Ikea. Thankfully, Yoshiaki Nakamura and his craftsmen (who completely restored this building during its sojourn to Kyoto) arrive soon to help us learn how it is properly assembled.
When Life Gives You Lemons, Protect Them
Plant diseases can be a “so what” kind of thing. But how many of us will miss oranges, lemons, and limes if they completely disappear from our diets? California is being closely monitored for a bacterial disease that could severely damage citrus orchards. For the meantime, The Huntington’s citrus has not been affected.
A is for Avocado
A simple idea planted more than 10 years ago came to life when board members of the California Avocado Society welcomed Brokaw, Rodriguez, and Shepherd family members to celebrate the successful establishment of Shepherd-Brokaw Orchard, the heart of a new Huntington Avocado Collection.
Myths, Institutional Memory, and the Magic of Concrete
After knocking out a comparatively thin pond bottom in the first of these upper ponds, workers encountered a sandwich of moist soil on top of a solid concrete second bottom, one that is clearly the original floor of the pond.
Out of Sight, But Hardly out of Mind
One 40-foot container on a cargo ship began its journey at Nakamura’s workshop in Kyoto, where craftsmen who had restored the wooden elements of Seifu-an (our teahouse) carefully packed them away to reassemble here at the Gardens. Simultaneously, the Japanese pond is drained and work continues behind the newly erected construction fence.
Putting the Bard in Shakespeare’s Garden
While out in the Shakespeare Garden yesterday, one of the guards reminded me that April 23 (this Saturday) is the day we celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday. We have replanted the garden just in time to bring a bit more life and color to the clearing over which Shakespeare presides.
